Thanks to the advance of technology, we can take pictures anywhere and anytime to record our precious moments and express ourselves. Recently, we can see young people waiting for pictures to be printed after posing for pictures in a photo booth on the street corners. Among the younger generations, capturing and sharing special moments through photos is now a prominent trend. Photography has become more than only a recording means for lasting memories in our daily lives. It makes us reveal our identity and share our experiences of special days.

This trend is known as “photopress” culture led by Generation Z, who are more familiar with expressing themselves through pictures than other generations. The new term has appeared by coining two words, photography and self-expression. The culture has features based on the purpose of taking pictures: expressing one’s personality, record moments, and sharing experiences with others. These features are included in everything from the process of taking pictures to the way you keep them.

The photo booth is one of the examples to show the characteristics of this culture. Different types of photo booths offer various compositions, including CCTV angles, 90-degree lying, and low shots. You can also express your personality with diverse poses. A photo frame collaborated with celebrities or characters is another example that you can express yourself, adding more fun to the photoshoot. You can use photos as a means of expressing your personality by composing props and backgrounds and taking pictures.

These features make a difference to existing photography culture. ID and profile photos are becoming more and more conceptual. Away from the traditional uniformity, the current trend is to take photos with various concepts such as high-teen, vintage, and yearbook. These conceptual pictures can capture the image of oneself that one want. This trend can also be seen in photo editing applications, which introduces AI-based technology that makes it easy to challenge the conceptual profile photos.

In addition, recording and sharing one’s feelings and daily life through photography has become a part of daily life, and an essential measure of self-expression. This behavior creates a new culture. The photopress culture that records one's moments will leave good memories forever. Everyone can also share their experience and memorize precious moments by posting a QR code containing the process of taking photos on social media. This trend occurs all over the world, and as an example, self-photo studios in Korea are being exported to foreign countries.

By Jeong In-hu, Reporter